This invention relates to a bottle holding rack, primarily intended for holding wine bottles, but which can be used for holding many other types of bottles.
Bottle racks are known in the prior art that employ an upright member having holes adapted to receive the necks of the bottles which are to be held therein. See, e.g., Barnes, U.S. Pat. No. 2,155,884 (1939); Barnes, U.S. Pat. No. 2,338,310 (1944); Leventhal, U.S. Pat. No. Des. 250,625 (1978); and Lyons, U.S. Pat. No. Des. 255,520 (1980).
Numerous problems are associated with these type of prior art bottle racks. One of the main problems is that the bottles stored therein require very strong necks. This is because the full weight of the bottle must be supported from its neck.
Another problem associated with the above racks is that the angle at which the bottle slopes from the upright member will be dependant upon the size and shape of the bottle. This not only creates a sloppy appearance in how the bottles are maintained in the rack, but it also makes it difficult to: (1) read the labels of the various bottles and (2) easily remove or insert bottles into desired locations. Furthermore, because the angle of the bottle slope will not be uniform, the available storage density (number of bottles that can be stored per square foot of the upright member) is not optimized.
An additional problem associated with sloping the upright member or sloping the holes in the upright member is that bottles can only be inserted into the upright member from one side. While it is true that two upright members can be placed back-to-back, as disclosed in the Barnes '310 patent, this type of arrangement does not lend itself to an efficient use of available storage space.